Raise minimum wage to $8,000

This is an open letter to Shahine Robinson, minister of labour and social security.

The current minimum wage is $6,200 per week. Last year, I saw reports of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica's unreasonable proposal of a seven per cent increase, equivalent to $434.

We, the people of Jamaica, are calling on the Ministry of Labour, led by Shahine Robinson, for a reasonable 30 per cent increase in the minimum wage, which would take the minimum wage to $8,060.

For the fiscal years 2016-17 and 2017-18, we, the taxpayers, have played our part in having a successful International Monetary Fund programme. We also played our role in many of these private-sector institutions making a lot of profit. It is not unfair for us, the hard-working people of Jamaica, to ask for just $8,000 per week.